


Ferreus VIII

by Flannigan



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Blood and Violence, Dai-hachi-han | Team 8 (Naruto)-centric, Drabble Collection, Gen, Grooming, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Infant Death, Poison, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture, Underage Drinking, Whump, Whumptober, Wordcount: 100
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2020-11-09 03:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20846933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flannigan/pseuds/Flannigan
Summary: Ferreus; iron, hard, unfeeling and heartless.Team 8 are like the edge of a knife, tempered and sharpened to kill. A shinobi's life will kill them first if they grow dull.Moments of struggle, weakness and sacrifice. Shino, Kiba and Hinata obey their orders, and they will survive.100-word drabbles centered on Team 8 written for Whumptober2019





	1. Shaky Hands

**Author's Note:**

> Ferreus is latin for _iron, hard, unfeeling and heartless_.

Nineteen to zero.

Shino could only defend from Hinata's barrage. A palm struck his chest and he flew backwards, rolling through the dirt in the training ground.

"Again," Kurenai ordered.

"Yes, sensei," he panted and struggled to his feet, tasting blood in his mouth. Hinata hadn't left her fighting stance.

He raised his battered arms, hands visibly shaking despite his efforts. He bent his knees and Hinata flickered and disappeared. She came from the side, palm already striking out.

Twenty to zero.

He pushed himself up again, blood dripping from between his teeth and down his chin.

"Again!"

"Yes, sensei."


	2. Explosion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied/referenced suicide tag added
> 
> My art/fic tumblr is it-s-blue-ink

"We're approaching enemy territory," Hinata said, and they stopped in a crouch on a branch.

"Security protocol, guys," Kiba said and pulled out a stack of inactive exploding tags, giving them one each.

Hinata charged it with her chakra, held it in her mouth and positioned her headband on her forehead. She slipped the exploding tag under the fabric. 

"They should teach us a suicide technique already," Shino said, tightening his knot. 

"A tag will take out enemies if we get captured," Kiba said, then rolled his eyes, "as if anyone could capture us." 

"Not alive, they won't," Hinata said. 


	3. Broken Voice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an alternative prompt. Angst and whump tags added, because it's Whumptober.

Kiba's body would soon shut down if this kept up. He chewed another soldier pill and attacked their ambushers with reborn strength.

His claws raked over the throat of the final Sound shinobi. Blood sprayed, and the forest fell silent. Akamaru laid down with a whine, and Kiba sprinted over bodies to a shattered crater. Two figures laid in the centre.

"Guys, are you alive?" he called, voice hoarse from shouting.

Shino and Hinata didn't move. He dropped on his knees and bit deep into his hand.

"They're fine," he whispered, voice breaking. "They're unconscious and not dead, they're fine..."


	4. Human Shield

Their target body flickered out of view. A hand grasped Shino's shoulder— a kunai pressed under his chin.

"Stop following me!" the traitor shinobi said and forced him to move backwards, "I'm not going back!"

Hinata and Kiba took up fighting positions. They'd tracked down this traitor for weeks, and wouldn't let him get away again. They all knew this.

Shino forced himself calm, and braced.

Hinata lunged forward and the kunai cut his throat clean and he was pushed aside. Hinata charged past him after their target, as Kiba stanched the bleeding with his hands and torn off sleeve.


	5. Field Medicine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles are like quick snapshots of longer ideas I have, but for whatever reason don't want to write right now.

"I hate this," Kiba groaned. He laid on his back with his teammates on either side of him. The flames from Hinata's fire technique left the kunai glowing orange.

"You should've been more careful," Shino said.

"Shut up," Kiba hissed through a wave of pain from his leg injury.

"One of us should become a medic," Hinata said and pressed the hot metal to his open flesh without warning.

The pain would be unbearable, but he was an Inuzuka and didn't struggle.

"Just another moment," Shino said gently, as if he needed comfort.

"Shut up," he growled. "I'll bite you."


	6. Dragged Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments and kudos. Keep 'em coming, it's really motivating!

"You already have Torune," his father said coldly.

"And now I'm here for your other son," Danzo said, "Remember I still have the third Hokage's approval to recruit as I see fit."

Shino moved closer behind his father, terror rising in his chest.

"Are you refusing a direct order?" Danzo spoke.

"I..."

A pair of hands took hold of Shino's shoulders from behind. 

"Don't touch me!" he ordered with as much authority he had: very little. 

Shibi looked away.

"Your cooperation is noted, Lord Aburame," Danzo said, and Shino was pushed forward.

"Father, don't!" he called out, getting no reply. 


	7. Isolation

Hinata moved through an advanced kata in the Hyuga dojo under the eyes of her father and grandfather, beholden to stay in the compound until she mastered the Gentle Fist to their satisfaction.

"Freeze," Hiashi said sternly as she hit the final pose. He slowly circled her and adjusted her form, tsk'ing.

Her grandfather shook his head.

"If this is the fruits of your earnest labor there is no point in training you," Hiashi said.

"May I resume active service with my team?"

"You have my permission, but you will hold them back." 

"Thank you," Hinata said, and bowed deep.


	8. Stab Wound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early Academy days, here.  


Shino stabbed at the balloon in the center of the soft dummy, and missed. Iruka sighed frustrated.

"Kiba-kun, come show Shino-kun how you did it."

"Will I get another muffin, sensei?"

"If he breaks the balloon, yes."

Kiba focused on him with a determined look.

"How do you hold the kunai? No, like this. Don't bend your wrist. Try now."

After a dozen more attempts red dye ran down the dummy. Kiba ran to collect their rewards.

"Keep mine," Shino said, "I don't like muffins."

Kiba pounded his shoulder with a grin.

"Thanks! You're not that creepy, I think."

"Hm."


	9. Shackled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added tag for Torture

A hand snapped in Shino's face and a flashlight blinded him. He glimpsed the blurry silhouettes of his masked captors.

"If you answer our questions you will have water. Food. Might remove those chains. That sounds good, hm?"

It sounded wonderful. His arms were raised above him, shackled and chained to the ceiling, and legs unable to hold his weight after such prolonged stress. If he wasn't relieved soon his shoulders would pop.

"Tell us everything about the Leaf's defences," a masked person said while approaching.

They'd get nothing from him. As an Aburame he knew how to be quiet.


	10. Unconscious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag for Infant Death added  
_italics means a technique-a jutsu-is being spoken_  
The rules for Whumptober2019 states that whatever the prompt inspires is a valid entry. That's why this has nothing to do with 'unconscious', but it led me to this drabble, so I'm publishing it under 'unconscious'.

Shino knelt down and placed the cold bundle in the hole. The infant's father swept dirt over the corpse in silence.

"May you find peace in the pure lands," Shino said quietly. The hole was filled up and he rested his palm on it, murmuring another prayer.

"It couldn't be helped," his clansman whispered, voice thick. "He wasn't fit for Aburame life."

Shino's heart was heavy. The contracting ceremony had gone awry, and the kikaichu deemed the babe unfit host material. It happened too fast to save the child.

The father touched the grave and formed a seal.

_"Insect decomposition."_


	11. Lost

"It's official, Shino," Kiba pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're lost. All this desert look and smell the same!" he turned around to face Shino, who carried Hinata on his back.

"When Hinata wakes up, she'll use her Byakugan," Shino said, trembling in the cold night temperature.

"Look. She's not going to wake up," Kiba said, fixing Shino with his gaze, "you know that, right? You're the smart one of us."

Shino bit on his cracked lower lip. They hadn't rationed their water properly, like absolute children.

"She needs medical attention," Shino said, "so let's move."

"Which way?"

"Any."


	12. "Don't move!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added tag for Poison

Kurenai showed an empty vial to her three young genin and smiled.

"I understand you've been working on drawing out poison?" she asked Shino.

"Ever since I was poisoned by that puppeteer," he said, setting down his half-empty glass suddenly, while Kiba and Hinata kept drinking. He caught on quick, she noted.

She watched him.

"You're wasting time," she said and tapped the vial on the table.

Shino grabbed Kiba and Hinata by their collars and insects flew into their mouths when they yelped. Kurenai shivered in disgust. 

"Don't move!" Shino snapped at them, "No time to explain, trust me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how at the end of Shippuuden Shino is like, immune to poison.


	13. "Stay quiet."

Hinata opened the wardrobe. It would be cramped, but they had no better option.

"Here," she said and helped Kiba maneuver Shino's limp body at the bottom of it. Kiba got into the wardrobe with Akamaru, keeping weight off his broken leg. "You'll be safe here, for a while, as long as you're quiet." Hinata said and made to close the door. Kiba stopped it with an alarmed look.

"Stay safe," he said hushed.

"I'll be back. Team 8?" Hinata said and held out her fist. Kiba pounded it, grinning.

"Team great."

She'd protect them with her life if necessary.


	14. Tear-stained

"Shinobi-san! Wait!"

They stopped, turned and faced a girl around their age. Dirty and bloody, she fell on her knees in front of them with tear-stained cheeks.

"Please, my little brother was taken by those raiders," she sobbed, "shinobi-san, save him."

"That's the opposite direction we're going," Shino observed. Kiba nodded grimly.

"Sorry," Kiba addressed the girl and stepped backwards. "We must return home and report."

"I'll pay you!" She held out a necklace of jade and amber. Hinata crouched before the girl.

"We're shinobi, not public servants," she said gentle yet firm, "sorry."

They walked away.

The girl wailed.


	15. Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference to ch 4: Human Shield  
Thank you, everyone, for the comments and kudos. It's getting tough to write one drabble every day, but I'm at the halfway point, I can do this.

Shino felt Kiba's hand on his shoulder.

"We need to talk," Kiba said gravely.

"What about?" Shino said, worried. Kiba reached forward and pulled down his high-necked collar.

"You know chicks dig scars, right?"

Shino touched the long scar spanning across his neck.

"I don't care about what women like."

"Guys dig scars, too," Kiba insisted, "don't hide it so much."

"It's a sign I almost died."

"It shows you gave it your all."

Shino yanked up his collar again.

"Hinata and I like it," Kiba protested.

"It's a mark of incompetence," Shino snapped, "I'll not bear it with pride."


	16. Pinned Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added tags for Grooming and Implied/Referenced Underage Sex

Hinata relaxed her shoulders as Kurenai ran a comb through her hair. She pinned it up into a beautiful hairstyle.

"I think this style will look more sensual, it shows off your neck," Kurenai said with a smile in the mirror. "Have you considered taking on seduction missions?"

"I don't think I could do that..." Hinata murmured, cheeks reddening.

"It's just a matter of practice. You're very beautiful, Hinata. You have to use that against our enemies."

"Yes, sensei."

"Your body is a weapon in more ways than in fighting."

Hinata's stomach twisted violently. She swallowed, and nodded.

"Yes, sensei."


	17. "Stay with me."

"I'm not saying we don't trust you, Kiba-kun," Inoichi looked down at him in the chair, voice gentle and taking off his gloves, "but we have safety protocols to follow."

"What protocols?" Kiba said, mouth dry.

"Oh, you know," Inoichi made a face, "enemy techniques might've warped your memories. So I have to take a look in your mind."

"Oh."

"It's going to hurt. Just try to stay with me."

"And these?" Kiba asked, jostling the straps around his wrists.

"For safety, to make sure you don't lash out. You don't object, right?" Inoichi asked, as if he could object.


	18. Muffled Scream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the previous chapter

Kiba laid in the grass with an arm over his eyes.

"How's your migraine?" Hinata whispered from his left side.

"Better. Damn the Yamanaka though," he grit out.

Shino, on his right, offered him a painkiller that he swallowed dry.

Kiba exhaled and savored the rare moment of peace and calm with his best friends. He lamented this happened so rarely.

Then-- his brain flashed white, and he gripped his head and kicked at the ground.

"Another flare?" Hinata's voice was soothing and he lurched towards her on instinct. He buried his face in her shoulder, crying out in pain.


	19. Asphyxiation

Kiba searched the walls of the Earth Tomb for cracks and imperfections to begin his dig out. There was space to kneel and touch the opposite walls at the same time. Barely enough to perform a Gatsuuga.

His chest tightened with a thought. How deep was he underground? Could he even reach the surface like that? 

Should he wait? His team must've noticed his disappearance and were digging him out at this moment, right? 

He clamped his hands over his mouth and breathed slow. And if he happened to cry for help like a panicked child, no one would know. 


	20. Trembling

"Kurenai-sensei," Shino said, "why are my team going on a mission without me?"

"You aren't allowed to come," Kurenai said while Hinata and Kiba looked at the ground. "Current heirs mustn't go on missions with none-to-low survival rates."

"Hinata and Kiba are heirs," Shino said confused.

"We're not next in line though," Kiba said, arms crossed. "I've got Hana and she's got Hanabi..."

"I will increase the mission success," Shino pointed out to Kurenai, voice trembling with anger. Kurenai watched him sternly. 

"These two have been taught by me. You can only trust their abilities, because you are _not_ coming."


	21. Laced Drink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added tags for Underage Drinking and Implied/Referenced Drug Use

Shino and Hinata sat on Kiba's back-porch, when Kiba joined them with a case of beer.

"Where did you get that?" Hinata asked hushed, accepting one.

"Uncle Gaku," Kiba grinned, cracking one open. "Here, Shino."

"I can't consume alcohol. Why? Because of my kikaichu," he said.

Kiba groaned.

"It's no fun getting drunk if not everyone does it."

"My clan has found a way," Shino leaned closer, slipped a flask from a pocket and opened it. Kiba sniffed the air. 

"That's a drug," he said. Hinata did a spit-take.

"Yes. A small dose simulates inebriation."

Kiba raised his can.

"Cheers."


	22. Hallucination

"I'll show you the reason you should be afraid of illusion users. Yes, Kiba, even you," Kurenai said sharply. They stood in a vast plain with their captive enemy shinobi.

Kurenai formed a sequence of seals and met the eye of their prisoner. She turned to her genins.

"Any suggestions?"

"An injury?" Hinata suggested.

"Fear," Shino said.

"Bloodthirsty wolves!" Kiba called.

Kurenai nodded.

Their captive turned around in his bonds, eyes wide. He struggled hard, but uselessly. She made the illusionary wolf bite into his shoulder. Their captive cried a bloodcurdling scream that wiped even Kiba's grin off his face.


	23. Bleeding Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated archive warning with Major Character Death
> 
> Torune's relation to Shino is the best thing the fillers gave us.

"I'm sorry," Torune cried in anguish, "I didn't want to."

In the end, Shino hadn't been killed by his brother's rinkaichu, but a common kunai. He looked up at Torune, insects and blood staining the sand around him.

"I couldn't--" Shino coughed blood, "couldn't fight you with killing intent."

Torune fell to his knees and yanked off his mask to weep.

"The_ Jar of Poison_ is almost ready, and I don't want to hurt you even more, I-- I can't...!" Torune grasped his bloody hand over his fatal injury.

"Before then," Shino whispered, holding his brother's hand tight, "finish me."


	24. Secret Injury

Kiba leapt through the foliage and joined Shino and Hinata.

"You two fall back. I'll handle the rest," he said, assessing their injuries.

"Do you have enough chakra?" Shino asked, shades shattered, giving Kiba a rare glance of his worried eyes.

Kiba saw both of their exhaustion, fear and worry. He forced a confident, fanged grin. As the powerhouse of their team they had to be able to count on him no matter what. What was a few broken ribs? Pain meant nothing.

"I've hardly gotten started," he lied.

Hinata held up her fist.

"Team 8?"

"Team great," he grinned.


	25. Bound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whumptober is over, but I still want to finish the challenge. Only a few left!

"How could Sasuke leave the village?"

Shino sat up from their row of bedrolls and looked down at Kiba.

"Why?"

"I don't get it," Kiba said gruffly.

"No. I meant, why aren't you sleeping," Shino sighed.

"I don't get it either," Hinata rolled over to face them, "but Sasuke didn't seem very happy in the village..."

"Yes," Shino agreed. "It was bound to happen."

"Shino!" Hinata jerked up. "You can't say that!"

"Why would he stay?" Shino asked, looking at this teammates. "His brother killed his entire clan. How long could you wait before you left, in that same circumstance?"


	26. Breathless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny!Kiba

"Stop!" Kiba screeched as he ran through the foliage of the forest. His little legs ached as he ran. Kuromaru, his mother's giant of a dog, was close behind him.

"If you can talk, you can run! Faster!" Kuromaru growled and nipped at his heels.

"Please!" Kiba cried out, tripping on a root down a bank, splashing into a shallow stream. He pushed himself up as the earth shook, Kuromaru looking down at him.

"No child of Tsume will be a weakling who begs for mercy," Kuromaru said in a deep voice that made his hair stand. "Keep running, whelp."


	27. Ransom

Kiba knelt before Hiruzen in his office. Hiruzen peered over the crystal ball, exhaling pipesmoke.

"Where is your team?" Hiruzen asked. 

"Held hostage," Kiba said and held down a cough.

"Why did you abandon them?"

"I didn't!" Kiba looked up sharply and glared. Hiruzen raised a brow, and he looked down quickly, and took out a note. "Their captors wanted me to deliver this to you. It's a ransom, I think."

An ANBU appeared and brought the note forward.

"Hmm..." Hiruzen sucked on the pipe. "Kiba-kun, get ready to escort a team of ANBU to their location. Leave no survivors."


	28. Touch-starved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More creepy Kurenai

"Take off your glasses," Kurenai said.

"Shades. Not glasses," Shino corrected, but obeyed his teacher. He turned his head to the side at her instruction.

"There is a severe lack of young men available for seduction missions," Kurenai said and unzipped his high collar.

"I'm bad at socializing," he said uncertain, "I can't seduce anyone."

"You'll be trained, and socializing isn't the crucial skill, anyways," Kurenai took him by the shoulders with a sympathetic look. "This field is an alternative way to get... intimacy. You will have difficulties with it because of your clan technique. Think about it?"

"...Yes, sensei."


	29. Fist Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, baby  
Added tag for PTSD

Kiba kicked and threw his fists out but his wrists got pressed down and a weight was on his legs. His eyes were blind in fright, wildly searching. Sakon— Ukon— He'd _gutted_ himself to kill them— A medic, the hospital—

He bared his fangs and tasted blood.

"Kiba!"

He forced his eyes to focus and turned limp. Hinata and Shino pinned him in their sleeping tent. Shino's ear was bleeding.

Kiba's chest convulsed violently realizing he'd attacked while asleep, again. His vision blurred and he bit his lip until it split. And when he cried they wiped his tears away.


	30. Recovery

The landslide cascaded over their camp without warning. Hinata made it out of the way, but Kiba and Akamaru and Shino? Probably buried and swept down the hill.

"They're not dead," Hinata chanted over and over and turned her Byakugan to the same area for the third time. How deep or far were they?

She put her hands together, focused, and strained her eyes. She'd search until she found them or went blind. They were her brothers, and she would recover them alive or recover their corpses and see them buried with full honors.

They'd do the same for her.


	31. Embrace

"If you didn't make it I'd have killed myself," Kiba confessed and put his arms over Hinata and Shino's shoulders.

They were bloodied, exhausted, broken, yet somehow alive. Their enemies' blood stained their bodies and they were victorious. Hinata leaned against him with a tired groan.

"But we won," she said.

"I'd do the same," Shino said. "I'd kill myself, I mean. That's why neither of you can die."

Kiba cracked a bloody grin.

"Sounds like a suicide pact."

"It is," Shino said.

"I'm in," Hinata said quickly and Kiba kissed their cheeks.

"Team great or the grave," he said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's finished. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this far, let me know what you think or which one was your favourite, or anything on your mind. It'd make my day to hear from you! 
> 
> Take care.


End file.
